Hundreds of residents spotted a "huge" fireball hurtling across the sky above Des Moines on Boxing Day as it lit up the dark December sky.

Hundreds of residents spotted a "huge" fireball hurtling across the sky above Des Moines on Boxing Day as it lit up the dark December sky.

The American Meteor Society said witnesses reported an object "as bright as the sun that fragmented into many parts" as well as several reports of "sonic effects associated with the meteor".

A fireball is another name for a very bright meteor, one with about the same brightness as Venus in the morning or evening sky, according to AMS.

More than 700 reports came rushing in to the American Meteor Society after the cosmic object as "bright" like "a ball of fire" caught the attention of several eyewitnesses. A street camera caught the meteor sighting in North Liberty.

Observers began posting to social media about the bright fireball streak across the sky over Iowa on Thursday evening, the Des Moines Register reports. People in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Tennessee also reported seeing a fireball in the sky.

The huge fireball was caught on camera in North Liberty. Check out this video from the City of North Liberty.

"We're looking at the reports," Kurt Kotenberg, of the National Weather Service, told KSDK. "The interesting things about it, Venus was visible in the sky just after sunset."

The meteor sighting filmed in Iowa has met a few skeptics, asking witnesses whether it was really a meteor, a satellite, or space junk. That the very bright light suddenly disappeared into the sky convinced many eyewitnesses that they definitely saw a meteor or meteorite.